Medical & Healthcare
Chartered accountants for GPs, dentists and pharmacists across Northern Ireland. We handle HSC pension annual allowance charges, practice incorporation and partnership accounts — and we explain what we have done in language you would use with a patient.
If you are a GP, one of these is probably true right now
You did extra sessions and kept almost none of it
Between £100,000 and £125,140 of income your personal allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2 you earn, so the effective rate on that slice is 60%. Add pension contributions and a partnership profit share whose timing you do not control, and additional sessions can cost more than they pay.
An annual allowance charge arrived that you were not expecting
The standard allowance is £60,000. Above £260,000 of adjusted income it tapers by £1 for every £2, down to a floor of £10,000. Because HSC pension growth is calculated on your pensionable pay rather than what you contributed, a good year can trigger a five-figure charge on money you never received.
Your Remediable Pension Savings Statement is still in the envelope
McCloud rolled your 2015 to 2022 service back into the 1995/2008 scheme, which changes your annual allowance position for years you thought were closed. Some members are owed money back; others have a new charge. Either way it needs recalculating, and the mandatory Scheme Pays deadline for pensioners affected by rollback is 6 July 2027.
Your drawings and your actual profit share have drifted apart
The tax bill lands months after the money did. If drawings were set on last year’s figures and the practice had a better year, January comes as a shock — and a poor drawings policy quietly makes partners resent each other.
Tax planning that is worth having
Most GP tax planning is a conversation in January about a bill that was fixed the previous April. Real planning happens while the year is still running, and for a GP it comes down to four levers.
Managing the £100,000 to £125,140 band
This is the single most valuable piece of planning available to a GP, and it is almost entirely about timing. Pension contributions, gift aid and the timing of private income all reduce adjusted net income. Bringing income below £125,140, or below £100,000, can be worth several thousand pounds for no change in how much you actually work.
Annual allowance and the Scheme Pays decision
If you have a charge you can pay it yourself or ask the scheme to pay it from your pension. Scheme Pays is not free — it reduces your eventual pension by more than the charge, and for younger GPs it compounds for decades. The right answer depends on your age, your marginal rate and whether you expect to breach again. It is a calculation, not a preference.
Carry forward
Unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years can be carried forward, which frequently removes a charge entirely. Doing it properly needs accurate pension input amounts for four years at once, and after McCloud the historic figures may not be the ones you were originally given.
Private and locum work held separately
Private practice, out-of-hours and locum sessions sit outside your HSC income and are taxed differently. From April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 are within Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, falling to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028. Partnership income is not in scope yet.
Accountants for dentists and dental practices
You still treat your associates as self-employed on the strength of the old BDA agreement
HMRC withdrew that treatment on 6 April 2023. Dental associate status is now assessed exactly like any other off-payroll arrangement — control, right of substitution, financial risk and mutuality of obligation. Practices that have not reviewed their associate agreements since are carrying retrospective PAYE and National Insurance exposure, plus penalties. This is the single biggest unaddressed risk in dentistry right now.
You are incorporated, and April made your dividends more expensive
From 6 April 2026 dividend tax rose two percentage points — 8.75% to 10.75% at basic rate, and 33.75% to 35.75% at higher rate. The additional rate is unchanged at 39.35% and the allowance is still £500. If your salary and dividend split was set before the Autumn Budget 2025, the arithmetic behind it has changed and nobody may have told you.
You are buying or selling a dental practice
How goodwill is valued and structured drives the tax on both sides, and the buyer’s relief position is rarely the same as the seller’s. This is decided at heads of terms, not by your accountant afterwards.
You are fitting out surgeries
The main pool writing down allowance dropped from 18% to 14% from April 2026. The Annual Investment Allowance is still £1 million, and a new 40% first-year allowance arrived on 1 January 2026 — so relief is still there, but which route is best has changed. Chairs, imaging, decontamination and fit-out are worth planning around rather than claiming after the fact.
Pharmacy
Community pharmacy carries its own mix of HSC and private income, stock valuation questions, and locum arrangements. The same associate and employment status tests that changed for dentistry apply to pharmacy locums, and the same incorporation arithmetic shifted in April 2026.
Who we act for
GPs and GP partnerships, salaried and locum doctors, consultants with private practice, dentists and dental practices, dental associates and locums, community pharmacies and pharmacists, opticians, physiotherapists, veterinary practices and other healthcare professionals across Northern Ireland — Magherafelt, Mid Ulster, Belfast, Derry and everywhere between — and into the Republic of Ireland.
Questions we get asked
I have had an annual allowance charge. Is it worth challenging?
Sometimes. Charges are frequently calculated on pension input figures that carry forward incorrectly, and McCloud rollback has changed historic amounts for many members. It is worth having the calculation checked before you pay it.
Should I incorporate my dental practice?
It depends on how much profit you take out versus leave in, your HSC and private mix, and whether you plan to sell within a few years. The dividend rate rise in April 2026 narrowed the advantage but rarely removes it. We will model both and show you the numbers.
Do I need to do anything about Making Tax Digital?
If you have self-employed or rental income over £50,000, yes — you are in from April 2026 and need quarterly digital submissions. Partnership income is not yet in scope, so a GP partner with no other income is not affected yet.
Do you act for practices outside Mid Ulster?
Yes. We act for medical and dental clients across Northern Ireland and into the Republic. Most of the work happens by email and video call, with meetings in Castledawson when you want one.
Talk to us
Bring your last set of accounts and your most recent pension statement. We will tell you what we would do differently and what it is likely to be worth. If the answer is nothing, we will tell you that too.
Book a free consultation or call 028 7946 5353.
Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year and are correct as at 26 August 2026. This page is general guidance, not advice — exceptions apply and figures are simplified. Please contact us before acting.